Iowa’s February Sportsbook Handle and Revenue Down as Football Season Ends

February has the Super Bowl but the lack of weekly football took its toll on Iowa sportsbooks as action fell compared to January. The Iowa Gaming and Racing Commission announced Hawkeye State sportsbooks accepted $216.4 million in bets, a 25% decline from the previous month. In another turn of bad news, this February was worse than last year’s $220.6 million. But looking ahead, the past four years saw increased March handle.

After paying out $195.1 million in winning bets, operators were left with $21.2 million in net proceeds, a 9.7% hold,  and slightly more than 9% from January. While the house increased its winning percentage, it still wasn’t enough to compensate for the loss of action. January reported $26.2 million.

Brick-and-mortar locations really suffered, seeing revenue cut in half to $354,000. The Ameristar Casino on the border of Iowa and Nebraska saw the highest revenue with $269,000, while five of 16 retail locations paid out more than they took in.

BetMGM won the month

With such a drastic handle decline, all the top operators suffered. However, that doesn’t mean everything was bad, especially for BetMGM. In such a competitive space like Iowa’s market, it's rare to be the sole monthly winner, but BetMGM has a lot to be happy about.

First, it actually increased its revenue from $1.5 to $1.7 million, when all the big operators reported declining profits. In addition, while BetMGM's handle fell, the book still leapfrogged Caesars to move into 4th place in Hawkeye State sports betting.

DraftKings and FanDuel were still the top dogs, combining for over $131 million in handle and nearly $15 million in revenue, well above the competition. Although, when looking back at January, their handle was a much stronger $172.5 million and nearly $19 million in income. 

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